The Hidden Immortal

Chapter 36 That Damn Beast

Upon arriving at the temple, Zhang Sanchun was calling out to customers, weighing roasted nuts and seeds for them while sweating profusely.

Chu Xun walked over, called out "Big Brother," and began to lend a helping hand.

Upon seeing his sister and brother-in-law arrive, Zhang Sanchun immediately grinned sheepishly and habitually scratched the back of his head: "Your sister-in-law is looking after the shop in town."

Lin Qiaoxi never attends the temple fair, but he repeats the same thing every year.

Especially this year, with Lin Qiaoxi pregnant again, it's even more inconvenient for her to appear in public.

Chu Xun smiled and said, "I wonder if my sister-in-law is having a boy or a girl this time? What does my brother want?"

Zhang Sanchun chuckled and said, "It's all good, it's all good."

Zhang Anxiu listened from the side, secretly glancing at Chu Xun before quickly lowering her head again.

Meanwhile, at Sanchun Fried Nuts Shop in Pingshui Town.

Lin Qiaoxi sat on a stool covered with a soft cloth, one hand supporting her pregnant belly and the other fanning herself with a palm leaf fan.

It was a very hot day, and the fan only brought hot air, which was quite uncomfortable.

All I wanted was for the sun to set sooner, so it would be cooler and my husband and son could come home earlier.

Unbeknownst to them, three figures had already arrived in front of the shop.

Several crows perched on the eaves, looking down.

Wang Erlai, whose head was patchy with white and gray hair and had hardly any hair left, grinned at Lin Qiaoxi and said, "Oh, isn't this Zhang's sister-in-law? What are you doing here all alone? Isn't your husband here?"

Liu Er and Sun Laoyou followed suit, chuckling as they grabbed handfuls of sunflower seeds and roasted peanuts, cracking them open and stuffing them into their pockets.

"Let your younger siblings taste it and see if it's fragrant and sweet enough."

The Lin family was executed along with nine generations of their clan, but the three ruffians didn't care at all.

They only saw that Lin Qiaoxi was pretty, hadn't done any hard work, and although her skin wasn't as good as a young girl's, it was still much better than that of an ordinary countryman.

I wonder what it's like to be a delicate young lady with fair skin.

That idiot Zhang Sanchun really got off easy!

Lin Qiaoxi understood perfectly well what the two were saying in their flirtatious banter.

Knowing that these three were no good, he ignored them.

But her concession made the three hooligans think she was afraid.

Wang Erlai chuckled and walked into the shop: "Sister-in-law, your brothers are so poor lately they can't even afford to eat. How about we help them out? We're family, after all!"

Lin Qiaoxi stood up, looking at him warily: "What 'family kin'? You're just my uncle's tenants!"

"So what if we're tenants? We're still family." Wang Erlai continued walking, reaching out to touch Lin Qiaoxi's face: "Look at you, all sweaty. Let me wipe it off for you."

Lin Qiaoxi stepped back again, grabbing a wooden spatula about a meter long beside her: "Don't come any closer, or I won't be polite!"

But Wang Erlai wasn't afraid at all. He glanced at the blackened spatula in her hand and leaned closer, saying, "Come on, smash it on my head. If you break it, you'll have to pay for it."

Lin Qiaoxi gripped the wooden handle of the spatula tightly, wanting to give him a good whack, but she didn't have the strength to do so.

Seeing this, Wang Erlai chuckled and was about to reach out.

Lin Qiaoxi instinctively swung the spatula, but it was snatched away and thrown to the ground.

Her face turned deathly pale. She never expected that this scoundrel would dare to act so recklessly in broad daylight.

Just then, several crows suddenly flew down from the roof and began pecking fiercely at Wang Erlai.

Wang Erlai was in excruciating pain from the pecking, his scalp was even scratched until it bled, and he waved his hands wildly to drive it away, but to no avail.

Crows are usually docile, but when they get angry, they are no less fierce than ordinary birds of prey.

These are crows that grew up rubbing against Chu Xun and Ling Yu since they were little. Their size, speed, and even the sharpness of their claws far surpass those of their peers.

Liu Er and Sun Laoyou rushed forward to help, grabbing the wooden sticks, but accidentally hit Wang Erlai on the head, causing him to almost faint from the pain.

As the three of them scrambled out of the shop, people from nearby shops came out to watch the spectacle, pointing at the two and secretly laughing.

These three rascals usually freeload off people everywhere, and they've taken advantage of almost everyone in town.

Go ahead and sue the government; they're not afraid at all. What can they do even if you get a beating?

The wound on his buttock hadn't healed yet, but he sat down in your shop and started wailing and crying.

Want to do business properly?

None of the doors!

There was nothing they could do but endure it, hoping that God would take pity on them and get rid of these scoundrels soon.

Seeing that the crow had helped them vent their anger, some people immediately clapped and cheered.

The constable in charge of maintaining order in Pingshui Town happened to be nearby. Knowing the three men's habits, he scolded them and told them to get lost.

With the constables present, no matter what Wang Erlai and his two companions did, they dared not act recklessly and could only leave in disgrace.

ga-

A crow cawed, stared at the three people's backs, and then flapped its wings and followed them.

"Is your sister-in-law alright?" asked the middle-aged constable named Jiang Baiye, who poked his head out.

He was originally the head of the criminal investigation department in the county government, a low-ranking official.

When the Lin family was executed along with their entire clan, the county magistrate, Zhang Zhizhong, was also implicated and his entire family was executed.

From county lieutenant to registrar, and then to head of the six departments of the county government.

Some were killed, some were arrested.

Jiang Baiye was lucky; he never did anything heinous, and he never engaged in corruption or bribery.

He wasn't well-liked in the county government and only managed to get a position as a head of the criminal investigation department thanks to his father-in-law's bribery.

After Zhang Zhizhong was killed, he was also demoted to the position of constable.

When Tang Shijun arrived, he saw that Tang was upright and incorruptible, so he sent him to Pingshui Town to be in charge of maintaining public order.

Because of his impartiality and his past as a former head of the criminal investigation team, many people respectfully address him as "Master Bai".

Lin Qiaoxi shook her head: "It's alright, thank you, Master Bai."

Jiang Baiye waved his hand and said, "I was just passing by. If you want to thank someone, you should thank these crows. Tsk tsk, what did they eat to grow so big?"

Lin Qiaoxi looked up at the crows that had flown back to the eaves and landed, and felt grateful.

Without the crow's help, who knows what would have happened today.

This gave her a jolt of fear. She was heavily pregnant, and if anything went wrong, it would be a matter of life and death.

Thank goodness, thank goodness.

Wang Erlai and his two companions slunk away, cursing all the way.

After walking quite a distance, Wang Erlai suddenly stopped and cursed, "Damn it, we can't just let this go!"

He was the one who started the fight, yet he acted as if he was the one who suffered a loss.

Liu Er leaned closer and asked, "What do you want to do?"

"These sons of bitches have so much money they can't spend it all, yet they don't even bother to give us any relief. Why should we give them face? Perhaps we should learn from the chivalrous heroes of the martial arts world and rob the rich to help the poor!"

Liu Er was startled when he heard this: Robin Hood-style robbing the rich to help the poor?

Old Sun quickly added, "You can't do anything reckless; murder is punishable by death."

Wang Erlai glared at the two of them: "Look at you cowards, you're incapable of anything great!"

Liu Er and Sun Laoyou didn't care about any of that. Although they didn't have a good reputation in town, they were unwilling to bear such a serious crime as murder.

Wang Erlai wasn't stupid; he could tell the difference between eating one meal and having food every meal.

His eyes darted around, and he pulled the two men closer, whispering, "Let's kidnap Zhang Hanzi's son and demand a ransom. I can't say how much, but they should have at least a few hundred taels of silver."

"Besides, there's also the great philanthropist Chu. Doesn't he like doing good deeds? His nephew has suffered a disaster; he can't just ignore it, can he?"

"Once we get the silver, we'll break the child's hands and feet and sell him to a slave trader in the big city to beg on the streets. That'll be another sum of money! All in all, a thousand or eight hundred taels won't be a problem!"

Liu Er and Sun Laoyou listened with their eyes shining; they had done plenty of petty theft and other despicable things.

I've also abducted children and sold them to human traffickers; it's not entirely unfamiliar to me.

However, after arriving in Pingshui Town, he toned it down considerably.

These past few years, he's had land but hasn't been farming it; he's just been living like a scoundrel.

Seeing others drinking, gambling, and visiting brothels in the city, he couldn't resist any longer.

Now, after hearing Wang Erlai's words, he was immediately itching to get started.

"But Zhang Hanzi's child never runs around, so he might be hard to tie up?" Liu Er asked.

Wang Erlai snorted, "Tonight, the three of us will wear masks and carry knives. As long as we don't make a sound, no one will recognize us. We'll just kidnap him. What makes Zhang Hanzi think he'd dare to fight us?"

"That's true." Liu Er licked his chapped lips and chuckled, "Why not just rob his house clean while we're at it, and then demand a ransom?"

Wang Erlai praised, "You're so smart! Just do it this way! And that woman of his, damn it, she can't resist touching me tonight, it's driving me crazy!"

"I think you not only want to grope him a couple of times, but you also want to punish him in front of Zhang Hanzi, don't you?" Old Sun said with a sly laugh.

Wang Erlai asked, "You don't want to?"

Old Sun licked his lips as well, his meaning unspoken.

How could I not want to be with such a beautiful woman?

The three whispered among themselves, discussing where to get some black cloth to cover their faces and steal a few sharp knives.

If Zhang Sanchun doesn't resist, then so be it; he can just take the money and leave.

If he resists, he will be stabbed three times and stabbed six times to teach him a lesson!

The three men crouched under the tree, plotting their scheme, unaware that a crow perched in a branch had overheard everything.

Its bright eyes rolled around a few times before it flapped its wings and flew away.

Wang Erlai looked up, then touched his still-throbbing head. His hand was covered in blood, and he couldn't help but curse, "Damn beast!"